Mayor’s Monthly Meeting Wrap – October 2025

Due to a meeting request with Premier Chris Minns, Councillors and executive from Brewarrina Shire Council came together for their monthly Ordinary meeting on Monday October 27, 2025.

Meeting with Premier Chris Minns

The General Manager and I welcomed the opportunity to meet with Premier Chris Minns in Sydney last week, alongside representatives from our neighbouring shires of Bourke, Walgett and Coonamble.

It was a productive meeting and an important chance for us to discuss opportunities and challenges in our region, ensuring government policies are effective for our local communities, and provide feedback on issues like crime, housing shortages and infrastructure.

We thank Premier Minns for taking the time to meet with us and welcome his understanding on the unique realities of regional life to ensure his government is targeted, effective and aligned with the specific needs of the people in our areas.

Community Strategic Plan

I want to thank Councillors and everyone in the community who has taken the opportunity to get involved in our Community Strategic Plan (CSP) over the past week. The CSP will set the direction for Brewarrina over the next decade, outlining the community’s shared vision and priorities for local services, infrastructure, jobs, housing, tourism, culture and more.

Councillors participated in a session before Council meeting; the team held pop up events in Brewarrina and Goodooga, visited local schools and businesses, and chatted with key stakeholders and community members.

If you missed out on the in-person engagement opportunities, our online surveys are still live and open for the next few weeks. So please, get involved. This is your plan. It’s your chance to tell us what matters to you, what needs fixing or improving, and what you want our towns and villages to look like in ten years’ time.

Whether it’s better roads, support for youth, or new ways to honour and share our culture, we want your voice to guide the future.

Visit the following link to complete the online surveys – https://brewarrina.nsw.gov.au/have-your-say-brewarrina-shire-community-strategic-plan/

Draft Code of Meeting Practice on Public Exhibition

Under Section 360 of the Local Government Act 1993, councils are required to adopt a Code of Meeting Practice that governs the conduct of Council and committee meetings.

Earlier this year, the NSW Office of Local Government introduced a new Model Code of Meeting Practice to enhance transparency, integrity and consistency across all NSW councils. The 2025 Model Code includes several significant reforms to ensure greater transparency and public access to meetings, clearer conduct expectations for councillors and meeting participants, and stronger procedural fairness and accountability mechanisms.

Some of the significant reforms that Council must incorporate includes:

Prohibition of pre-meeting briefing sessions.
Mandatory livestreaming of meetings from January 1, 2026, with recordings published on Council’s website.
Public forums provisions now mandatory, though Council may determine their rules and frequency.
Extraordinary meetings may now be called directly by the Mayor.
New requirements on urgent business, councillor absences and attendance by audiovisual link (restricted to medical/caring circumstances).
Updated rules of debate, mayoral minutes and etiquette, including prescribed modes of address.
ICAC-aligned changes requiring staff reports for all planning decisions and public reasons where Council departs from staff recommendations.
Expanded provisions on dealing with disorder, including expulsion powers for councillors and the Public.

Brewarrina Council’s draft Code of Meeting Practice incorporating these updates is now on Public Exhibition until November 27, 2025. The Policy can be viewed HERE or in Council’s Offices at 57 Bathurst Street.

The community is invited to review and provide feedback on the draft document. Submissions can be made via email to breshire@brewarrina.nsw.gov.au and must be received by December 11, 2025.

2026/27 Rate Peg

Council provides many vital services to the community including maintenance of roads, parks and gardens, sporting and recreation facilities, town planning, tourism, waste management, and much more.

Your rate payments help fund and better our community, with rates contributing to about a third of all annual income.

The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) has released their determination of the “rate peg” for 2026/27. The rate peg is the percentage amount a Council is allowed to increase their general income by for the year from rates. It does not equate to the total percentage individual rates will be increased by.

The rate pegs for 2026/27 range from 2.7 percent to 5.7 percent, with iPART allocating the specific rate for each individual Council based on a number of factors including population, cost of living and Council’s need to fund increased operating costs and maintain essential services.

As determined by iPART, Brewarrina Shire Council’s rate peg for 2026/27 will be 3.6 percent – considered mid-range for a rural Council.

Specific rate amounts will be set later in the year during our budget planning period, and we will keep the community informed on that.

You can find out more about how iPART sets the rate peg by visiting their website https://www.ipart.nsw.gov.au/

Christmas Closures

Brewarrina Shire Council’s offices, including Service NSW, the Library and the Shire Depot, will close for the Christmas and New Year period from midday Wednesday December 24, 2025, and reopen on Monday January 5, 2025.

During the closure period, outdoor essential services and emergency response crew will continue under skeleton staffing arrangements.

Australia Day Awards

Don’t forget, nominations for the Brewarrina Shire 2026 Australia Day Awards are still open. The awards are a wonderful way to recognise and celebrate the exceptional achievements and contributions of people, events and organisations from across our whole shire, including Brewarrina, Goodooga, Weilmoringle, Gongolgon and Angledool.

This year we are welcoming nominations for the following categories:

Citizen of the Year – Recognises outstanding members of the community for their personal endeavours, achievements and community involvement.
Young Citizen of the Year – Recognises young citizens under 25 years of age for their personal endeavours, achievements and community involvement.
Sportsperson of the Year – Recognises a sports person, team, coach, administrator or official whose actions inspire and encourage others, and enrich the community through sport.
Young Sportsperson of the Year – Recognises a young sports person, team, coach, administrator or official, under 18 or school age, whose actions inspire and encourage others and enrich the community through sport.
Australia Day Award – Recognises individuals or groups whose actions inspire and encourage others and enrich the community.
Community Event of the Year – Successful community event held in the Brewarrina Shire from December 2024 to November 2025 that benefits or promotes the Brewarrina Shire.

If you know someone or an organisation that has demonstrated outstanding dedication, service or excellence, or a successful community event that promotes or benefits our Shire, then I encourage you to consider nominating them.

Nominations close Sunday November 30, 2025, and can be lodged online HERE or downloaded online HERE. Forms are also available at Council’s offices.

Completed nomination forms must be marked “CONFIDENTIAL” and can be emailed to cec@brewarrina.nsw.gov.au, delivered to Council’s offices at 57 Bathurst Street or mailed to PO Box 125 Brewarrina NSW 2839.

To find out more about the Brewarrina Shire Australia Day Awards or to complete a nomination online, please visit https://brewarrina.nsw.gov.au/nominations-open-for-2026-australia-day-awards/

On The Roads

Two large upgrade projects have recently been completed, which is a great credit to the team.

Construction work on the Brenda Road for the installation of new box culverts has been completed, and the road is now open to all traffic. This essential works, funded by the NSW Government’s Infrastructure Betterment Fund, help to improve local infrastructure and provide a more reliable and weather-resistant road network.

Stage 3 of the Jobs Gate Road has also been completed. Another 2.4 kilometres has now been sealed thanks to funding from the Infrastructure Betterment Fund. Stage 4 is expected to get underway shortly, which will see the final stretch of the road all the way to the Queensland boarder sealed which will be an outstanding achievement for our region.

In further positive news for our local road network, Council staff recently completed grader training, ensuring they have the essential skills to safely and efficiently maintain our roads and infrastructure. We now have nine new qualified operators and four expert operators ready to tackle even the toughest of road upgrades and maintenance projects and keep our local roads in top-notch condition.

Following this training, Council is now equipped to carry out patrol grading, ripping and relaying, and patching works internally with two full-time patrol graders. This dedicated team will focus on the ongoing maintenance of unsealed roads across the Shire, ensuring proper road shape and drainage, as well as enhancing smoothness by reforming the road as needed. These efforts are part of a proactive maintenance program designed to improve the quality, drivability, and longevity of the road network.

Recent maintenance grading work has also been completed on the West Culgoa Road (4km), Bukulla Brenda Road (40km), Gongolgon-Byrock Road (39km) and Monday Bridge Road (32km).